{"id":54589,"date":"2017-07-21T18:09:24","date_gmt":"2017-07-21T18:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=54589"},"modified":"2017-07-21T20:05:48","modified_gmt":"2017-07-21T20:05:48","slug":"clyde-ensslin-explores-thomas-jeffersons-secret-unflattering-history-in-his-fringe-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=54589","title":{"rendered":"Clyde Ensslin Explores Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Secret, Unflattering History in his Fringe Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clyde Ensslin Explores Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Secret, Unflattering History in his Fringe Debut<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Washington City Paper<\/a>
\n2017-07-06<\/p>\n

Caroline Jones<\/strong><\/a>, City Lights Editor<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\nClyde Ensslin<\/a> (Darrow Montgomery)<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n

Clyde Ensslin\u2019s<\/a> journey to the Capital Fringe Festival<\/a> began, of all places, in an Uber<\/a>. Ensslin has driven for the rideshare company since 2014, and one night in the fall of that year he received a message to pick up a passenger at the bar Showtime in Bloomingdale<\/a>. That passenger turned out to be Capital Fringe CEO Julianne Brienza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As they rode, she told him she\u2019d just closed on Fringe\u2019s new headquarters on Florida Avenue NE. When Ensslin revealed he had never heard of the arts festival, Brienza gave him a crash course in the world of Fringe, from its roots in Edinburgh <\/a>to her plans to build Trinidad into an arts district. \u201cShe just kind of blew me away,\u201d he says of his first impression. She encouraged him to see shows when the festival returned in the summer. He bought an eight-pack of tickets.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time, I did not think this was anything I\u2019d want to do,\u201d he says now. But after seeing pieces he loved, like Cara Gabriel\u2019s I Am the Gentry<\/em><\/a>, he bought another eight-pack the following year. By the end of the 2016 festival, he was hooked. At the same time, Ensslin\u2019s passengers were regularly telling him how much he sounds like former president Bill Clinton<\/a>, so he started thinking about constructing a play that would coincide with the 20th anniversary of the 42nd president\u2019s impropriety and subsequent impeachment<\/a>…<\/p>\n

…Early on in the process, he discussed his plans with Ibe Crawley<\/a>, the operator of IBe\u2019 Arts<\/a>, a small gallery in Historic Anacostia<\/a>, who pushed him to not focus directly on Bill and Monica<\/a> and instead tell the story of another lecherous commander-in-chief: Thomas Jefferson<\/a>. The resulting play, a monologue called Thomas Jefferson: Hoochie-Coochie Man<\/em><\/a>, is presented as a college lecture, taught by professor William Jefferson Clinton, that breaks down the relationship between Jefferson and Sally Hemings<\/a> and the ways that story has evolved over time.<\/p>\n

To begin his research, Ensslin consulted the authoritative text on the subject, historian Annette Gordon-Reed\u2019s<\/a> The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family<\/em><\/a>. Gordon-Reed tells the stories of multiple generations of the Hemings family, who became Jefferson\u2019s property when he inherited them from his father-in-law. She chronicles the hard labor they did on his plantation and follows members of the family after they were freed upon Jefferson\u2019s death. After hearing her speak at the 2016 National Book Festival, Ensslin dove deeper into the historiographical archives, reading Christopher Hitchens\u2019<\/a> Thomas Jefferson: Author of America<\/em> and titles by Michelle Alexander<\/a>, Michael Eric Dyson<\/a>, and Eddie S. Glaude Jr.<\/a> as he tried to understand the paradox that Jefferson occupies in American history.<\/p>\n

Ensslin\u2019s show arrives at a time of renewed interest in Jeffersonian scholarship. After DNA<\/a> evidence conclusively proved Jefferson fathered a child with Sally Hemings, historians and curators were forced to deal with that aspect of Jefferson\u2019s life for the first time. A large donation from philanthropist David Rubenstein<\/a> in 2013 allowed curators at Monticello<\/a>, Jefferson\u2019s home in Charlottesville, Virginia<\/a>, to build replicas of the cabins slaves lived in on the plantation. Visitors can now go on tours that specifically highlight the experiences of slaves and the Hemings family. But even Hamilton, every woke<\/a> theater nerd\u2019s guide to early American history, paints Jefferson as a politically savvy bon vivant<\/a>, only mentioning Sally in a winking reference for history buffs…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clyde Ensslin Explores Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Secret, Unflattering History in his Fringe Debut Washington City Paper 2017-07-06 Caroline Jones, City Lights Editor Clyde Ensslin (Darrow Montgomery) Clyde Ensslin\u2019s journey to the Capital Fringe Festival began, of all places, in an Uber. Ensslin has driven for the rideshare company since 2014, and one night in the fall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,24,459,8,20],"tags":[27340,27337,27339,918,477,27338],"class_list":["post-54589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-arts","category-history","category-media-archive","category-usa","tag-capital-fringe-festival","tag-caroline-jones","tag-clyde-ensslin","tag-sally-hemings","tag-thomas-jefferson","tag-washington-city-paper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54589"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54606,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54589\/revisions\/54606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}